I bid you adieu 2013 with gratitude and grace

Can you believe it is the end of 2013 already. The last day of the year. Wow. Time is definitely not waiting for anyone. It is going at its own pace and is asking us to appreciate it by showing us just how much it marches on whether we are on board or not. Whether we are ready to keep track of where we are at all times or not.

I look back at the year and reflect on all the blessings in my life. All I have to be grateful for. All the people I have to be grateful for. My wonderful husband moving in directions we did not anticipate but appreciating the journey with love and respect. My children growing before my eyes. Maturing. Blossoming each day into who they came here to be. Understanding there is a pull between them becoming adults while at the same time wanting to remain as children. Learning to let go when necessary and to hold on as well. Our family unit strong yet fragile at the same time but full of love.

I look back at the opportunities that have come my way and allowed me to be a better person just by understanding and accepting gratitude has a place in my life. The doors that have flung open for me without me asking. Without me seeking. The doors that have creaked open offering me a glimpse into what could be if so I so choose to take that path.

I think back over the year to the doors I have closed in my life and the doors that have been closed for me with gratitude as well. Because even though it is always upsetting when doors close, I know they are closed because they no longer serve me and it is time for me to move on to the next phase. I recognize some doors may not be permanently closed so I treat everything and everyone behind those doors with respect at a distance never knowing if they will open again. Accepting that for now they are closed and there is no need to try to find the key for them until the key wants and is to be found.

I look back over the year at the surprise deaths of people in my life and those who touched my life in some way and I understand how life in this physical body is short and is meant to be lived to the fullest. To truly be lived and not just to exist.

I think about some bold moves I have made. Stepping out of life’s mediocrity in some cases and taking a stand, sometimes with others and other times on my own, to help to make our home a better place. I think about all the naysayers who have tried to pull me down. Tried to label me as something that I am not and I let them and their comments go because I know those who label, those who judge, label and judge not me but themselves.

And most of all I look back on the year, at this milestone year for me where I reached 50 years of living and am now in my 51^st year with delight. I feel no different to the young girl who looked out across the ocean decades before and knew there was much more waiting out there for me than where I stood. There was much to be explored. Much living to be done. Many paths to be taken and many bridges to be crossed and I still feel that youth within me. That idealism mixed with realism, mixed with curiosity and maturity and know though I have lived on this Earth for now going on 51 years, there is still so much more living to be done. So much more to be explored. So much learning and teaching, teaching and learning. 

The journey is not done until it is done. So I am leaving myself open and receptive to the gifts, treasures and abundance of the Universe with gratitude and grace so that I may be infused with its love and light allowing me to continue on my journey with faith, hope, trust and abandon.

With gratitude to the year 2013 for living each moment, being in each moment as much as I can. What a year. What a moment. Namaste.

Asking for and doing what we want

There is an expression that says

If you ask for nothing you get nothing

Another that says

If you do nothing, you get nothing

So why do we sit on the sidelines 

Allowing life to pass us by

And grumble when we don’t get what we want

And don’t do what we want

Why are we so conditioned to think that things will just work out

If we ask for nothing

Or if we stay exactly where we are

Even though it no longer serves us

Why are we so worried about failure

When the definition of failure is not in the trying 

And it does not work out

No failure lies in doing nothing and saying nothing at all

Failure is beautiful and liberating

Because it tells us what is not meant for us

And leads us down the path that is right for us

But by standing still and watching rather than getting up and doing

Or speaking up

We will forevermore be trapped in the gilded cage

Trapped within the prison of our own making

Trapped looking out rather than living within

So instead of us doing the same thing over and over again

Complaining about the same things over and over again

We need to ask for what we want 

With conviction

Then be prepared to get it

And harness it

Then share it with the world

Because the only people that know what we want and need 

Is us

And the only way anyone else will know what we want and need

Is for us to speak up

To not be afraid that someone will tell us no

Or to find that what we asked for is not for us right now

Because the only way we will know

Is if we ask

And the only way we will get what we want

Is to do what we want

Even if it means it is not meant for us right now

Because it could lead to what is meant for us

A dream beyond our dream

So

Rather than standing on the sidelines

And envying those that do

Those that dare

We need to learn to stop casting stones

At those who have the nerve to be who they are

And learn to be who we are

And when we do

We will discover

There is no need to cast stones

Because we will be too busy living our own lives

Rather than living the lives of others

There is an expression that says

If you ask for nothing you get nothing

Another that says

If you do nothing, you get nothing

And an even better one that says

When we step into our passion

We live a life of passion

Simply by asking and doing what we are meant to be doing

Because everyone one of us has a unique gift

A special purpose in life

So let’s find our passions and share them with the world

Rather than hiding our passion and keeping it from the world

Allowing us to be who we are

Asking for what we want

Being grateful when we get it

Giving us the wings to do what we want

And be who we are meant to be

Namaste

In gratitude to a little blue bird

This morning when I woke to the sound of wind and rain again, I immediately felt a wave of gloominess wash over me. I felt like I had had enough of this windy and rainy weather and it was time for the sun. I needed the sun. I was looking forward to the weather improving,. To there being light in the day.

So instead of getting up, I lay in bed thinking about why this weather will not let up. Why we have been shrouded in clouds of grey for the last few days? I didn't want to move. Didn't want to get up despite being wide awake. My body, limbs, mind and spirit felt weighted down by the heaviness of the weather outside.

And then when my body could not take being horizontal anymore,  I got up and came into the office, opened the blinds so I could see outside. Somehow pull, however limited the light is outside, inside. I sighed a heavy sigh when I saw the trees being pushed around by the wind. The rain drizzling down. The sky grey. Not a hint of blue anywhere. Just greyness and dullness.

I then sat at my new old space again and looked outside once more and this time I saw it there in plain sight. Waiting for me to see - my gift from the Universe. My treasure.  The answer to my questioning - a little blue bird perched on a branch delicately balancing itself as the wind buffeted the branch he was on. Sitting majestically giving me the hint of blue I was looking for. There before my eyes. Not in the way I expected. Not in the sky but in the color of the blue bird.

Chills ran up and down my spine as I felt possibility course through me. I felt at peace with the way the weather is, with the way things are right now because I understood with great certainty we are always answered. We are always given what we ask for. Maybe not in the way we expected. Maybe not in the way we wanted. But we are always given what we need and that little bird with its bright blue feathers was there to remind me that even on my darkest days, even on those days when I am feeling the weight of my trials, I am always given answers, clues, gifts from the Universe. But only when I take the time to stop, to look, to listen and to be grateful for everything and everyone that comes by way because they are all in the Divine Plan and they are necessary for the unfolding of my life.

And for that tiny little blue bird that sat atop that branch until I saw him, felt him, and acknowledged his presence, I am truly and utterly grateful.

And just like that the day does not seem as grey. Nowhere near as gloomy. Nowhere near as dreadful.  I see more light in this day. More possibility awaiting me as I inhaled and exhaled the All with absolute delight to know I have been spoken to and am being spoken to all the time. It’s just up to me to be aware and to be open with gratitude and grace. Namaste.

In gratitude for my husband gifting me a new computer

I am so excited this morning. I have a new computer. My own personal computer again. Thanks to my wonderful husband who gave it to me for Christmas. Partially because he wanted me out of his space and off his computer and partially because he knows how much having personal space is so important particularly for me as a writer.

 I don’t know if any of you noticed that the font on my blog was changing constantly. The rhythm of my writing was slightly different because I was using my husband’s computer as my computer died ages ago.  And for me as a writer, it was frustrating and strangely liberating at the same time to be on my husband’s computer because I had to learn to let go. To accept that sometimes my writing would not look the same nor feel the same but I was writing nonetheless.

 And now I have my own computer again. One that I can personalize just for me so I am consistent when I write. So the rhythm is established and I know from day to day what it will look like with gratitude.

I have to admit I have to get used to this keyboard now. I have to get used to its feel. Its sound. Its response to my fingers. But I can handle it. I can be patient. I know soon this keyboard and I will become one. Anticipate each other’s needs and desires.

I am being a little apprehensive with it because it is so new and it sounds so loud. And because I write early in the morning I try not to make too much noise because I don’t like to wake up my household because I like to write on my own. Without distractions. Without anyone else needing me for anything.

I write when there is silence on most occasions so I can hear the voice of the Divine. So I can become intimate with all that is, was and ever will be. So I can journey to my soul. To the place where there is nothing and there is all. And when I do I can hear the voice loud and clear and even when I don’t, I can feel it through the tapping of my fingers on the keyboard. The rhythm my fingers take on without me even trying.

But this morning I am a little sluggish because my excitement is on having my own computer, sitting back in my own chair, facing my painting by Bear Cloud my husband gave me for my 50^th birthday. Seeing more in there than I had before. Looking out the windows again from my own angle seeing the view from my own perspective rather than my husband’s.

So this morning I am allowing myself to become reacquainted with my own space. The space I had been taking for granted when it was mine before and did not change except when I changed it. But now it feels so new, so strange, so mysterious that I feel possessive and joyful to have it back. To experience my space again for the first time.

Realizing what I am experiencing is a lesson in not taking anything for granted. To learn to appreciate everything and everyone in my life regardless of how long they have been there because when they are gone or taken away, I will miss them and realize just how much they meant to me. And for my own computer back again teaching me about how little things in life can make such a huge difference when we appreciate them and show gratitude, I am truly grateful and excited and possessive all wrapped up in one.

To know there is no such thing as mundane as everything is part of our existence and more importantly a part of our living life to the fullest is such a joy. Such a blessing. Such. Such. Such.  And for my new computer, my own space back again, my own view and my lesson about life, I am truly and utterly grateful. Namaste.

Why I love holidays

I love holidays. Especially those ones when I have nothing to do but be who I am and where I am. No pressure. No routines. No schedules. Nothing to do but be in my pjs all day if I want. Such a luxurious feeling. Like today. I feel so rich today. So enriched I should say. Because I have made no demands on myself except to relax and to just go with the flow. Be in the flow.

It's amazing how free we can feel when we allow ourselves to stop. When we allow ourselves to just be. It is such a liberating feeling. Such a peaceful feeling.

This morning I lay in bed listening to the rain coming down. Listening to the birds chirping. I thought about getting up to write my blog. Thought about people who would be looking for it early and I have to admit I did feel a twinge of guilt . But then I just let go. Let go of the expectation. Let go of the guilt and closed my eyes and snuggled back into my daughter who had come into my bed burying my face in her head of curls and allowed myself to drift back into dreamland. Falling into a deep sleep.

When I woke up I was amazed to see some 3 hours had passed so obviously my body needed the rest. Obviously I needed the rest. And I felt so rested. So peaceful. I lay in bed for a little longer listening to life happening all around me. Thinking about all the things I have to be grateful for. Thinking about the wonderful family day of Christmas I had had the day before.

Thinking about my 84 year old dad looking younger than he has for some time enjoying seeing his family and being with us. Thinking about how quickly life passes us by particularly when we are constantly putting pressure on ourselves to be somewhere and to do something rather than just stopping sometimes. Sleeping sometimes. Resting sometimes.

And that's why I love holidays so much. Particularly holidays when it is raining outside and there is no pressure to be anywhere except where I am. No need to be anything but who I am. When there is no need to get gussied up and I can stay in my pjs if I want all day. And who knows it may be a marathon Scandalous day too. But for now I am just going to go with the flow and see where it takes me. Not resisting. Not expecting. No demands. No routines. No pressure. Just being…

Hopefully you will have one of those days too where you take the time to just be you. Reconnecting with your core self. Letting it rest and be too. Peace and blessings.

Greetings and Blessings 2013

Merry Christmas to my family and friends near, far and wide.
What a wonderful day of celebration, reverence and remembrance. Christmas Day when hearts are filled  as full as they possibly can be. When trials are set aside for this sacred day. When love abounds as much as it can.
I have always loved Christmas even during those years when I got absolutely nothing from anyone and there were many of those years because what I love about Christmas is the feeling of giving in the air. The feeling of oneness and spirit. The feeling of possibility. The magical feeling that dances throughout our land. Weaving the angels and invisible forces together - awakening them so they are shimmering for me to see.
This year for the first time in a long time Christmas is wet and grey in Bermuda. Rain that looks like snow because of how fine and slow it is falling is the view for us on this Christmas morn. The sun is absent. The light is dull but still my heart and soul feel so full, so grateful for the love and joy I feel in my home.
The quietness of the morning. The anticipation as we waited for our children to get up. Watching the clock from 5am. Thinking where are they? And then they come bursting through. Our daughter first. Jumping on the bed between us. Her face pressed against ours. Followed by our son. Hanging in the background.
And then we are all up. The atmosphere electric. Our home now filled with the excitement and laughter of our children for the gifts they received.
A quiet moment when they become immersed in their surprises as my husband and I exchange on Christmas morn gifts - a first since we became parents as we normally wait to the night of Christmas to exchange our gifts to give our children the day. But they are growing up now and the gifts are fewer but well thought out.
Looking around my home and feeling such gratitude for the man I chose to spend my life with, the children we have created together, our home we are creating together, the life we have created, are creating together.
Christmas is always a sentimental time for me because it is a time when life lets me know it is meant to be lived and shared and appreciated. And on this today I have no qualms with letting the light of my love shine. To rejoice in my creation and all that I am creating to help to make my world and this world a better place.
So I am signing out on this Christmas morning with joy  and gratitude in my heart for all that I am, was and ever will be. For being a woman, wife and mother. For the paths I have taken that have led me to where I am today and the paths I am taking and will take.
From our home to yours, may your Christmas Day be blessed in whatever way it needs to be blessed even for those who are suffering and in pain, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Just keep living, loving and showing gratitude for whatever comes your way or is in your way because you are being directed to the place you need to be.
Peace, love and great tidings from our home to yours. Merry Christmas in the name of the Divine.

My #writing mind

Last night I was at a lovely gathering of friends and people brought together by one woman and her husband to celebrate the holiday season when I was asked if I knew what I was going to write for today. To which I responded I have no idea. My ritual in the morning is to meditate first and then let the first sentence that comes to my mind after my meditation take me where I need to go. Without expectation, question or doubt.

I went to bed thinking about my conversation with my friend who has coined me as her morning coffee and woke up with it on my mind as well. I then went into meditation with it and came out with conflicting sentences because I realized that subliminally I always know what I am going to write because life is my muse. Life is my storyline and each person, event and thing that resonates with me on some subconscious level becomes my writing subject, becomes my vehicle for exploration and creation.

But this morning and last night I was thinking too hard about writing. Thinking too hard about what to put on paper to impress the friend who asked me about writing and whether it is easy to write every single day. And what I realized is when I over think what I am going to write. When I try to impress. When I try to force. All I do is stymy my creativity. Stymy the voice inside that leads my fingers as I type. Stymy my flow.

But when I let go and just go with the most dominant thought in my head and allow it to flow through me, I know I am writing from that sacred place that ego, expectation and direction have no place because that place is infinite, sacred and abundant.

And when I appreciate going to that place and express my gratitude for having found access to that sacred space by allowing it to take me where I need to go, there is no thought, no direction, no expectation, it is what it is and I am where I am meant to be. Like the river flowing through the mountain – meandering, twisting, turning – sometimes rapid, sometimes calm. Sometimes without a ripple and sometimes full of ripples. I become one with the Universe. The Force.  And I surrender. Surrender it all to all it all to flow through me.

Allowing me to accept writing is my release. My connection to the all that is, was and ever will be and because I know this I have faith that I will write the message I am meant to hear, write and share.

And for my friend who calls me her morning coffee,  thank you for helping me to remember my gift of writing. My call to serve and to share through my Journey of Love and Light with amazing grace. Peace and blessings to you. Namaste. 

In reverence to #Oprah Winfrey and #Supersoulsunday

Last night I was trolling Facebook and that’s when I came across a SuperSoul Sunday where Oprah had pulled together the best of her guests’ responses to some questions she believes to be important and I was so glad I found it and watched it. And once I did, I knew I had been led back home. To my truth.

I understood why I love Oprah again and why she is such a strong and necessary force for our human race – spiritual race. She uses her power and her wealth to help us to shift our consciousness. She reaches out like the pure energy force she was sent here to be and draws those who are ready to hear the voice of the Divine. Those who are ready to be the change agents we were sent here to be and it matters not whether we meet in person. It just matters that together we are giving and receiving the messages of love and light. The messages we as individuals are meant to spread about hope, faith and love to bring us back to the whole.

To me, Oprah is one of the greatest because she uses her immense resources to help to facilitate that process through the power of the Internet. Knowing the Internet is the physical representation of our spiritual interconnectedness and for Oprah I am truly grateful.

So on this dark Monday morning before the rise of the sun, I extend to you some of the gems that touched my heart and soul from Supersoul Sunday.

“I have risked everything to just tell the truth. Telling the truth is not just what you say, it’s how you show up. Being your truth. “ India Arie

“When I am in myself – I am at peace with you. When I know I am centred, I’m all right. Now when I lose it, faith trembles and slides away and for that moment I am dangerous and in danger…” Dr. Maya Angelou

“God – ALL. There is no place that God is not.” Dr. Maya Angelou

“I refuse to define God. God cannot be defined ..De finis – cannot limit by defining we limit. God is always greater than we can imagine or think.” Karen Armstrong

“Rather than finding heaven on earth,  we are asked to release heaven by living on earth.” Mark Nemo.

“Of what use and bridge can I be.” Mark Nepo

“God gives us 3 answers, 1. Yes, 2. Yes but not right now. 3. No, I have something better in store for you.” Kerry Washington

“The world needs more love.”

“The world needs authentic beings to have the courage to be who they are.” Mark Nepo

“We are not the centre of the Universe. Neither ourselves as individuals. Nor our nation. Nor our culture. We are all equal. All God’s children. We will either live or stand together or we will fall.” Karen Armstrong.

Those quotes and many more are the reason I am grateful for Oprah Winfrey and her OWN because they are providing a global platform for spirituality and interconnectedness. A touchstone to remind us we are not alone. Nudging us to remember there is always someone or something beside us as we are all a part of the whole.

Taking me back to a quote I read today in my meditations for Living in Balance, that said,

“The secret of balance is knowing both our somethingness and our nothingness. Each snowflake is unique and individual unto itself – a very special creation. Together, all these tiny special creatures become a heavy snowfall capable of great beauty and of great destruction.

“Yet as snowflakes are absorbed into the vastness of the sea, the individuality that was their uniqueness becomes an important part of the greater whole, resulting in a magnificent silence.

“So it is with us! As we know and value our uniqueness, we also have the possibility of melding into and becoming part of the all-that is.

“Through our uniqueness, we become part of the whole.”

And Ms. Oprah helps us to remember and for her I am truly grateful. In reverence to a great woman who understands her somethignness and nothingness. Namaste

Slowing down can be really loud

We are such complicated people

Never sure about what we really want

When we are busy, we complain about being too busy

When life slows down in response to our request for a reprieve

We worry that we aren’t needed or wanted

We start to feel insecure

Wondering what we are meant to do next

Instead of taking the time to listen

Listen and appreciate the time our brain is giving us

To hear what it has been trying to tell us all along

Giving us the gift of time to be

To just be

Without hustling and bustling

Without rushing about blindly

When we are given the gift of time by the Universe

It is because we are deserving of it

Because we are in need of it

To get in touch with who we are

What we want out of life

And to get us back in touch with our essence selves

Sometimes it is hard for us to see ourselves face to face

To listen to ourselves

To hear that voice

Because sometimes it is telling us what we don’t want to hear

What we fear

What we don’t want to face

That maybe we are running around like a chicken with its head cut off

Because it is easier than having to face our demons

Than having to accept we need to make some changes in our lives

That some people in our lives are not there for the right reasons

That people can’t change as it is their nature

Regardless of new buzz words like behaviour

Behaviour is a direct result of our natures

We are who we are

As they are who they are

And no matter what we do

There is nothing we can do to change them

Only whether we want them in our lives or not

Some people are just dishonest and conniving

Because they are very insecure

And we know it 

But there is something about us that is being reflected back from them

And more importantly the path we may be on is not the path for us

And the Universe is answering us

By slowing us down

Giving us a reprieve from the hustle and bustle of life

And asking us to surrender

To listen

To hear

To see

To feel

Who we are

And who we are not

The question becomes

Are we brave enough

Willing enough

To see

To feel

To hear

To listen

To surrender?

Or will the noise of our silence

And quietude

Be too loud for us to bear?

Letting go of expectations

Yesterday I wrote about asking for nothing in order to be open to receive everything. It is a difficult concept to hold onto even when we start out with the best intentions because sometimes what happens to us is we reach a place we never expected. And can't believe we got there. So we desperately expect to either remain there or to reach higher. And that’s where the problems start. Expectations kick in. And all we worry about is how do we remain or reach higher. Rather than being grateful for where we are.

Expectations come as a direct result of ego. They have us believing we should have something else rather than being grateful for what we have.

Expectations cause us to compare ourselves to others and envy what they have rather than being grateful for what we do have.

Expectations cause us to worry about what other people are doing rather than doing what we want. Doing what resonates with us.

Expectations cause us to judge rather than accept.

Expectations are so normal to us that we don’t realize it is expectations that drive us crazy. Make us move beyond our present moment to something that may be outside of our reach. Or to something that may not be good for us regardless of how good it is for everyone else.

We are all individuals operating from a connected spiritual base but we cannot all be the same, operate the same.

Each one of us has a talent for something and we are meant to explore that talent. To understand it and embrace it rather than worrying about someone else’s talent and trying to steal it from them. A word of advice: all we do when we do that is frustrate ourselves because we can be no one but who we are.

We are each here to learn our individual lesson. And when we get that lesson we are tested again and moved onto the next phase of our lives by the Universe. So there is no need to expect anything. All we need do is accept, be grateful and remain present with whatever is unfolding in our lives.

Expectations are driven from our egos. The quicker we learn to be grateful for who and what we are then we clear space in our mind, body and spirit to ask for nothing in order to be open to received everything. Namaste

Sometimes we have to ask for nothing

Sometimes it is better to ask for nothing

And to be open to receive everything

Sometimes it is better to journey

And not to worry about the destination

Sometimes it is better to not worry

And to just trust

Sometimes it is better to take self out of the equation

And embrace the all

Sometimes it is good to just be

And not worry about doing

Sometimes it is better to breathe in the power of the Universe

And breathe out the destructive forces of the Universe

Surrendering totally to all that is, was and ever will be

Sometimes we are afraid of that which we cannot control

When all we need do is release all that is harmful to us

Sometimes we need to close our eyes

And be still

Ask for nothing

Nothing at all

But surrender ourselves

To breathe in the potential for love

Laughter and joy

And accept them as our guides

Accept the feelings we receive from these emotions

As our gifts from the Universe

Sometimes we need to breathe out

Exhaling slowly

Allowing ourselves to let go of fear

Anxiety and pain

Allowing ourselves to open

Open

Truly open

To possibility

Understanding and accepting

Our minds are powerful

Enabling us to be powerful

Change agents for ourselves

And when we do

An incredible power emerges from deep within

That has the capacity to help us to surrender

To believe

To trust

To have faith and hope

Life is all about being in the moment

Treasuring the moment

Because in that moment

We understand

We are good enough

Worthy enough

It is only when we project

Try to stir ourselves

That we feel inadequate

Worry that we can’t do

Fear that we will not live up to expectations

But when we surrender and remain

In the moment

We know we are given another opportunity

To experience the wonders and joys of life

Every moment we can let go of the dark thoughts

That threaten to pull us away

From our essence selves

And open ourselves to thoughts of light

Lifting our spirits

Helping us to be

Who we are meant to be

Loving

Kind

Compassionate

Whole beings

Full of love and light

Sometimes we have to ask for nothing

And be open to receive everything

When we are compassionate

I was feeling sad because I have been hearing story after story this week from people who are being treated without compassion. People who are hurting at the moment but no one is seeing their pain. All they are concerned about is their gain but what they forget is ultimately when we lack compassion, we lack self-fulfillment which eventually leads to self-destruction.

Compassion is one of the greatest emotions we can ever experience because as Arthur Jersild says, “Compassion is the ultimate and most meaningful embodiment of emotional maturity. It is through compassion that a person achieves the highest peak and deepest reach in his or her search for self-fulfillment.”

Last night I tossed and turned when I got home. Feeling like I need to do something. And so I took to the Internet – God bless the power of the Internet ­- to research compassion. To understand more about what compassion means to us as human and spiritual beings and why it was evoking such strong emotion within me. And once I discovered its importance,  I felt the need to share the importance of compassion in our lives particularly at this time of the year when we are expected to be joyful and reverent. When we are supposed to observe peace and love. When we are meant to be spreading good cheer.

I go back to the blog I wrote on Monday asking that we be mindful of those who are suffering at the moment. To remember to hold them in our thoughts if we are not suffering. To remember to reach out to them with empathy and compassion. To remember that compassion is the basis of all morality.

As Arnold Toynbee says, “Compassion is the desire that moves the individual self to widen the scope of its self-concern to embrace the whole of the universal self.”

Compassion is that which joins us together as spiritual beings. No man or woman wants to feel unloved, unheard or like he or she does not belong and when we lack compassion that is how we make him or her feel.

So I am urging us all to remember it prophets not a man to fail to show others that they understand what they are experiencing. It prophets him only when he demonstrates he will move mountains to help them to return to their natural state. Recognising if he does not, not only will others self-destruct but so shall he. Because we are one. Emotions and feelings intertwined more than we will ever know or understand.

Please above all else, let’s remember to put ourselves in the shoes of those that suffer and extend a hand to help them because in doing so, we help ourselves. Remembering always that expressing compassion is the greatest gift we can ever give to others because in doing so, we receive its gift as well.

And so I will end with another quote to remind us of the importance of compassion. “A moment of self-compassion can change your entire day. A string of such moments can change the course of your life.” Christopher Germer, The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion

And just by writing this blog I feel  the sadness I felt lifting and being replaced with joy to know I am trying to move us in the direction of expressing compassion by teaching myself about its importance and sharing my lesson with you.

The dichotomy of life

Some days I am in the rhythm

Some days I am in the groove

Some days I feel like I can move mountains

Some days I feel like singing and dancing at the top of my lungs

Some days I believe in miracles

Because I accept I am a miracle

Some days there is nothing that can stop me

Other days I feel still

Like a rock

Like a heavy burden is weighing me down

Like someone is holding me back

I can’t shake the feeling

The tiredness

The aggravation

The place of in between

And then I stop and listen

Listen to the stillness

The quietness

Tugging at the noose around my neck

And I know it is up to me

To shift from the place of dread

To take me to the place where I feel I belong

The place where I feel wanted and needed

The place of abundance

But in doing so I respect the days

When I feel low

As much as I appreciate the days when I feel high

Because without one I would know no other

To be on a constant high no matter what

Means I am not pushing myself

Not bursting through my boundaries

Not challenging myself

And then I wonder why I feel like I am in the doldrums

Why everything is so mundane

Easy and boring

So I am always pushing

Seeking

Trying

And sometimes I go down a path that takes me back to the doldrums

While other times I am on a path of gold and diamonds

But what I am learning most of all is that I get the greatest satisfaction

When I do

Rather than speak

When I serve

Rather than criticize

When I contribute

Rather than sitting on the sidelines complaining

So I accept the days of darkness

And welcome the days of light

They are both necessary parts of my growth

My existence

My life

And for the good and bad days

I am truly grateful

Because it means I am alive

And breathing

And living

The dichotomy of life

Light and dark

Dark and light

Namaste

Remembering those who suffer during this holiday season

This is the time of year when everyone is full of great cheer. One of my favourite times of the year.  Yet there are many families and people that are suffering right now. Loved ones who have recently passed over to the other side or loved ones on their way to the other side. There are families being ripped apart due to divorce, lost jobs, anxiety and all sorts of strife we will never know about or understand.

So today the beginning of a new week, I ask that we all observe in our hearts a moment of love and peace for these people. A moment of silence and reverence. To send them as much positive energy as we can to help lift their spirits in this time of love and joy because their hearts cannot feel it at the moment.

I write this because my family recently sent a Christmas card to a man and a woman who used to come to Bermuda every single year and go out on my husband’s boat when he ran his watersports business. They came year after year and brought friends with them too. They were one of his best marketing agents ever. We even had them to our house a few times. They became our friends even though they were much older than us and came from a completely different background and place from us.

But we lost touch with them as sometimes happens when life takes us on different paths. But for some reason this year, I felt the need to send them a Christmas card. To touch base. Only to come home to receive a voice message from a very broken man. A man who told us that his beloved wife and best friend had passed a few weeks before. That she had battled cancer for the past two years but could not take it anymore and slipped away to the other side.

The pain in his voice was enough to cause both my husband and I to feel every bit of his pain. He told us how lonely he was to have lost the love of his life. How sad it was for him to lose her because they were still very much in love even though they had been married for 30 years plus. Even now as I type this story I feel his pain despite him being in another country.

So today, this Monday, another start to a week, please take a moment today to think of all those you know who are experiencing pain and send them positive energy. Help them to find their way out of the darkness if it is meant to be by just being there. Start by being grateful for the blessings we have in our own lives. Allowing that gratitude to radiate out to those who feel they have nothing to be grateful for. Remembering not to take anything for granted because each of us will experience loss in our lives.

During this season of good cheer, let’s all spread as much glad tidings as we can as there are many people and families that need it. With love and light to our friends and families who need us in spirit right now, we are with you. As we are all one. Namaste.

A lesson from a tangled earring

There are lessons in everything we do particularly in what we consider to be our most mundane, everyday tasks as they are in actuality reflections of who we are. How we truly see our lives unfolding. They are indicators of what is inside of us.

So when we take the time to listen and take heed, to observe what we are doing, being present, we see in every single thing, there is a lesson for us.

Take this morning, I was trying to get an earring out of a tangle of jewelry in my jewelry box. And I struggled for a few minutes trying to free the earring from the mess. Getting frustrated by the minute because I really wanted to wear those earrings. I was about to give up and in making the decision to let go, suddenly the earring came loose. Just like that. Free in my hand. Unbelievable I thought at first. And then I realized it was not unbelievable.

I stood there for a few seconds staring at the earring and the tangled mess that had fallen back into my jewelry box and realized I was being given a life lesson that I had been dismissing. When I stop fighting against what is meant to be, when I let go and let the Universe give me what is meant for me, without struggle, resistance or frustration, the tangled mess I feel I am in will give way to the treasure that is meant for me.

I looked at myself in the mirror. Stared at the reflection of who I am staring back at me and told myself, my life is unfolding as it should and all I need do is live it as it resonates with me. Live it to the fullest. Not worrying about tomorrow or what is beyond my reach but to enjoy every aspect of it even those things that don’t feel comfortable or good that come my way because they are the mess that is tangling me to distract me from what I know feels good on the inside. What calls my name.

So all I am meant to do is to be present to receive the guidance of the universe, the sound of my inner voice and be grateful for everything that comes my way as my earring showed me this morning. Namaste

Creativity comes

Creativity comes

When we open our minds

Without expectation

Without direction

Without plan

Creativity comes 

When we allow ourselves to flow

When we allow ourselves to get into the flow

Like a river carrying us to a place unknown

But trusting we were put on that river for a reason

Regardless of how great the rapids may become

Regardless of the twists and turn

When we let go

Let go

And let go

We understand

Creativity leaves us when we try too hard

Think too much

Panic

When we think we have something to prove

To anyone but ourselves

When we lose sight of why we were put on that river

In the first place

When we fear the rapids

The twists and turns

So much 

We try to swim upstream

Wondering why the journey

Is taking us further from our destination

When we can see the end

But we can not get there

But when we stop

Close our eyes

And breathe

In

And out

Inhaling

Exhaling

Slowly

Slowly

Slowly

All that is, was and ever will be

That’s when the door to creativity

Opens

At first

A crack

A sliver

A passage for us to squeeze through

Willing us to surrender

Surrender it all

And let our intuition

Gut

Inner voice

Guide us

Take us

Show us the way

With gratitude and abandon

That’s when the door flings wide open

Allowing the light of love to burst through

Lighting our way

Filling our whole being

With possibility

Faith

Love

And hope

Allowing us to see the beauty in all things

Because we know we are all things

And nothing at the same time

That’s when we understand

We were sent here

To create

Procreate

To love all and nothing

Because that’s how we are created

Through the process of love

We understand with certainty

It is love that is at the base of all things

Including hatred

Jealousy

And fear

When we know and understand these things

We free ourselves

From the bondage and prison

Of self-loathing and fear

Instead we embrace love

Because we understand

We were not sent here to destroy

Denigrate or alienate

No we are sent here

To create

Love

Procreate

To let go

Surrender

Trust

Listen

Listen to the sound of the Voice

That will never lead us astray

We create without thinking

Without worrying

Without panicking

Without fear

We create from a place of abundance

Gratitude and hope

Knowing there is enough for us all

In this world and the next

Enough to allow us to feel

The love of all that is

Was

And ever will be

Allowing creativity to come

Flow

Take us 

Where we need to go

To be

And we relax on the river

Through the rapids

Twist and Turns

Letting them 

Teach us

Take us

Where we are

meant to be

Amen and Namaste

An invaluable lesson from my son

Yesterday I received one of my greatest and unexpected lessons from my son. I was driving my children to school and we started talking about love and falling in love. So I asked my fourteen year old son if he had ever been in love before. I figured it was a good time to do so because it was a spirited, nonconfrontational, and lighthearted discussion. We had the music blasting and we were all in an open and good mood so I knew it was the best time to get the most honest answer out of my son.

My son asked me what I meant by being in love. I said you know where you have strong feelings for someone. And what he said after that nearly stopped my heart. He said, “I have difficulty expressing my feelings because when I was younger and really sensitive and used to cry all the time, one day you told me to stop being so sensitive. To stop crying so much. So I did. I stopped crying and I stopped being sensitive.”

Even as I type what my son said to me, my eyes well up with tears at the thought that I had caused my son to shut down. To retreat into a shell. I had no idea I had done so. I took a deep breath and immediately apologized to my son. Telling him, it was not my intention to shut him down. Not my intention to desensitize him. That it was okay to cry. Okay to be sensitive. Okay to be who he is.

I told him it was better to let it all out then to keep it bottled up inside because if he did, he could cause himself to have a heart attack or stroke. I told him if he was unable to show his emotions he may be a lonely man because he would be too closed to allow love really and truly into his life. I told him I thought I was showing him love all the time because we hug and kiss a lot as a family.

I thought about the fact that my son does not allow anyone to leave the house without telling them he loves them. So to say I was surprised by his statement is an understatement.

All day I thought about our conversation feeling guilty as a parent for scarring my son’s life. Realizing just how easy it is for us to cause our children to retreat. How easy it is for them to shut down particularly as they are developing. So I decided to put my rather personal situation out there to remind anyone who is a parent how fragile our children really are. How they really take to heart the things we say and do. They may not express it to us right away or at all but we have to be careful with the things we say and do to our children as we may lose them forever or set them on a path we had not intended.

I am just grateful that my son felt comfortable enough with me to tell me how he was feeling so that I could be more aware of the things I say to him. So that I can encourage him to come back out of his shell. To trust me again opening himself to trust others with who he is so he won’t spend the rest of his life hiding from his feelings, suppressing his emotions. My son is a beautiful young man on the cusp of becoming a man and I want to give him the best tools to be the best man he can be. the most loving and open man he can.

And then I found this quote which is so true. “Adults constantly raise the bar on smart children, precisely because they're able to handle it. The children get overwhelmed by the tasks in front of them and gradually lose the sort of openness and sense of accomplishment they innately have. When they're treated like that, children start to crawl inside a shell and keep everything inside. It takes a lot of time and effort to get them to open up again. Kids' hearts are malleable, but once they gel it's hard to get them back the way they were.” 
― Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

I am so grateful for being given the opportunity to reverse my son’s heart from gelling shut. To be given the opportunity to help him to open again. To feel. To love. To be proud of who he is whether that means he is super sensitive or not. And I am so grateful for my son and my daughter because they are amongst my greatest teachers as well as my students and for them and the lessons I am learning to be a better mother, wife and woman I am truly grateful. Namaste

We must trust others so they may trust us

Yesterday morning I nearly made my children late for school as I sat and watched the funeral of the great man, mentor, icon, Nelson Mandela. For some reason I was drawn to his funeral procession intrigued by the dreary rainy day for the sendoff of Mandela. Almost as if the Universe was weeping for the loss of one of its greatest.

I was mesmerized by the number of people, the diversity of people who were there despite the rain. Symbolic of the change he made by simply being who he was. Paving the way for the rainbow of people to be gathered to honor him. Not trying to be a saint but a man who believed that all men should be equal. To hear his grandchildren speak with such affection and admiration for their grandfather gave me chills.

To see the world leaders that had gathered as well as the common man all joined to say thank you to a man who understood that in order to be free, he had to free himself from hatred and pain. And then I heard President Barack Obama speak and knew I had been led to listen to the words of this very wise and conflicted man particularly when he said,

“It took a man like Madiba to free not just the prisoner, but the jailer as well - to show that you must trust others so that they may trust you; to teach that reconciliation is not a matter of ignoring a cruel past, but a means of confronting it with inclusion and generosity and truth. He changed laws, but he also changed hearts.”

We are all given trials. All given hardships not to weaken us but to strengthen us. Not to cast us out but to help us to learn how to find our way back in. Our greatest jailers are our own minds. Our minds can free us or imprison us and it is up to us to break free of the limitations, prejudiceness and ignorance we carry around with us in order to understand our place in this world. In order to be tolerant, forgiving and compassionate because one day we may find ourselves in the position of the oppressed and when we do will there be anyone to help us because of how we treated them in the past.

I knew yesterday morning President Obama’s words had been sent to me to remind me of the greatness that exists within me even when I doubt who I am and what I stand for. To know I must trust others in order for them to trust me. I am not an Island but interconnected in more ways to my fellow mankind than I will ever comprehend.

President Obama went on to remind us about how short our lives really are by saying  “For the people of South Africa, for those he inspired around the globe, Madiba’s passing is rightly a time of mourning, and a time to celebrate a heroic life. But I believe it should also prompt in each of us a time for self-reflection. With honesty, regardless of our station or our circumstance, we must ask: How well have I applied his lessons in my own life? It’s a question I ask myself, as a man and as a President.”

Forcing me to think about my passing that will come soon. Forcing me to question if I were to die tomorrow would I be content with the life I have led? Could I honestly say I did my best with the resources I have? Could I feel like I had been of service to myself and to my fellow mankind?

Each one of us has been put here for a reason and what we need to remember in the passing of a great man being eulogized by another great man is that we are not perfect beings. We are flawed simply because we have been sent here to learn to grow and to understand we are all connected. In order to know this, we have to be knocked down sometimes, locked up sometimes physically and other times metaphorically, to know that we always know the way home. We always hold the key to our success – not yet material success but spiritual success as well.

Even in his death, Mandela symbolizes the gift of freedom of the mind. And now he has the wings to fly. To soar and remind us of our own personal freedom.

Mandela, your light has gone out in this world but will continue to burn in our hearts and minds forever - the internal flame of freedom.  Amen.

Sometimes I just don't want to filter

Thank you to all those who reached out to me yesterday. Those who were concerned about me because of the blog I wrote yesterday. I wrote that blog without thinking about it. I just let it flow from my heart. Exploring what was there and letting it come out. Letting jumbled thoughts present a hint to me about my start of mind. Bringing them from the recesses of my brain to the forefront of my brain then allowing them to spill out into the ether.

Sometimes I just don’t want to filter what is going on inside me. Sometimes I just want to let it flow and see where it takes me and that’s where I was yesterday morning. Monday morning having to deal with another week ahead. As soon as I wrote the words and let them go, I felt much better. More focused. More in touch with who I am. I thought about deleting the words and starting all over again but did not because I felt by expressing how I was feeling I could possibly touch someone else as well.

We are not perfect beings. None of us. We are human beings with a multitude of feelings, vibrations and tolerances. And some days we will be weak and by exposing our weakness first to ourselves then to others, we help to shift ourselves from the pit of darkness to the portals of love and light. By sharing our vulnerabilities and exposing them to ourselves and to others only helps to make us stronger because we realize we are not alone in our struggle. Not wandering out in the wilderness all alone.

Life is a process, a journey not a destination as is spirituality and surrender. There are times when we are more in tune with the process and other times out of sync but by just going with the flow and exploring it for what it is, for accepting who we are at the moment, we open ourselves to clarity. We allow ourselves to be free from attachment and expectation.

I felt really vulnerable yesterday morning when I woke up, really worried about some decisions I had to make and so I allowed my feelings to bubble to the surface and to expose them for what they were. I was not expecting the outpouring of support I got so I was surprised and pleased by the response and from whom because it showed me just who really and honestly cares about me as a friend, and I thank you for that.

Life is all about sharing and living. Giving and receiving. Loving and letting go. Fear and vulnerability are necessary parts of life because they teach us about what we want and don’t want. They allow us to go to places that we can’t access without first feeling a sense of foreboding. Fear is the barometer that gives us the space to challenge ourselves and there is nothing wrong with admitting our fears. Nothing at all. Some people look at exposing out fears as a sign of weakness but in actuality it is a sign of strength. A sign of not being ashamed of who we are from a deep and protected place.

No, I did not walk around yesterday feeling sorry for myself. Instead after writing that piece yesterday about my jumbled thoughts, I walked outside to take our rabbit out for the morning and as I did, I looked at the clouds, the greenness of the grass, inhaled the freshness of the morning air and felt a sense of detachment and surrender come over me as I repeated, “It is what it is, I am what I am and for it all I am truly and honestly grateful.” Surrendering it all to the grace of the Divine.

Nature has a wonderful way of opening us up to possibility because of it vastness and beauty. Because of its natural flow. Here’s to another glorious day. Another day of opportunity, abundance and surrender. Another day of jumbled thoughts that somehow will become coherent as the day evolves without direction, attachment or expectation. Namaste. 

A confusing start to the day

Where do I begin today?

When my mind is all over the place.

Trying to be everything to everyone

Trying to please everyone but myself

Trying to understand why one day I am up and the next day down

Why I seem to understand the meaning of life then something comes along and challenges my beliefs and understanding

How one minute I feel so confident about the direction I am going in then very insecrure the next.

Why sometimes fear is my best friend then the next it is my enemy

Some days I just want to stay in bed, not answer the phone, and not talk to anyone because I discover the people I thought were my friends are not

Then on other days I want to be out among people, hearing their accolades and seeing their smiles

Why it is that some days I am a really good mother, wife and friend and others days I am not

Why am I feeling like I can’t begin today

Why am I feeling that today is one of those days when my mind is bombarded by so many thoughts that I don’t know what is a distraction and what is truth

I just don’t know where I am today.

Not even meditation pulled me back from the bombardment of thought

Not even closing my eyes and going inside was I able to silence my mind, quieten my thoughts as I have so many people that are relying on me right now that I don’t even know how to rely on myself because I am so busy trying to be what they expect me to be that I have lost touch with what and who I want to be.

Today is one of those days when fear is my enemy not my friend.

So I am asking the Universe for guidance to help me to focus.

To be in the moment. To not project. To accept fear for what it is and to be still.

Today I am sending out a prayer to help me to be me before I become someone else and do something that does not resonate with me just so I can please others.

Today I am asking for the blessings of the Universe to remind me that life is always going to be up and down because that is how I am growing and learning.

That it will never be smooth sailing all the time and neither will it be easy all the time because if it was than I would stagnant and dissatisfied

To know when my mind is all over the place it is because I am being groomed to move on

To understand that every step I take, every action I make, every word I speak is where I am meant to be

So I am surrendering myself to the confusion I am feeling today, to the unsettled feeling in the pit of my stomach to the Universe and the Divine to see where it takes me with faith, love and trust

To allow myself to move through another day on this Earth with gratitude that I have another day to explore my confusion and jumbled thoughts.

So to answer my own question today, where do I begin?

Simply, I begin with gratitude and allow everything else to fall into place – confusing jumbled thoughts and all. Namaste

The magic of the moon

Last night we were treated to the most magnificent moon on our drive back home. A perfect crescent moon. It lay on its back, majestic and seemingly filling the whole night sky. Yellow like the sun. Shining down on us almost like the light of a star guiding us home. As we drove along Ferry Reach looking at the moon almost felt an optical illusion, the closer we got, the further away it became but we still felt like it was so close we could touch it with our bare hands. Feeling like it was touching us with its magnificent light. Oh what a wondrous sight. Bright in an otherwise dark night.

I could not peel my eyes away from the moon as it lit everything around it. Mesmerising.  Its light shining on the black dark still water like a beacon in the night.  The water flat calm. Not a ripple in it as it glowed from the light of the moon. Romantic thoughts. Childhood thoughts flowing through me caused by the perfect still night illuminated by the light of the moon. Running through my head were the nursery rhymes, "The cow jumped over the moon" and "Good night moon". Filling me with joy and peace.

I found myself slowing down to take in the full effect of the crescent moon putting on a show for us as it filled the night sky.Preening for us. Thinking about how even on the darkest night there is light always. Shining down on us. Guiding us. Helping us. Some people on that drive home probably never even saw that moon last night because there were in such a hurry to get to their destination that they probably did not even see the magic of the night. One car pulled over to see the moon. Mesmerised as was I.

I thought about how the sight of that moon held my thoughts, slowed me down, brought out the magic that exists within me and made me realise just how beautiful my Island home is. Just how fortunate I am to live in a place where the moon can act as like guiding star. How blessed I am to feel the light of the moon on me, my family and my Island home. To live in a place where the moon is not obstructed by tall buildings and glaring lights obscuring the light of the moon.

As we rounded the corner and the moon was no longer in front of us, I turned to look at it for as long as I could. At how its closeness had come during the holiday season to show us we are never alone. That even on our darkest night, there is a light to guide us home. A special feeling of belonging filled me up with love and faith. As I inhaled the light of the crescent moon.  Knowing I am a part of this magnificent world. A part of a larger creation and existence.  

I wanted to capture its beauty on camera but then decided it was better captured as a memory in my mind because I would never be able to capture the feeling I felt from the moon on camera but could hold it in my heart forevermore. So I watched as long as I could instead. Letting me know there are some things in life that can never be captured. Instead they need to be experienced and treasured as was the light of the moon last night reminding me to slow down and enjoy the journey because the only destination is death so there is no need to rush to the end but to live as much and as freely as I can.

Namaste to the beauty and majesty of the moon. 

Nelson Mandela

“I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons will live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal for which I hope to live for and to see realized. But my lord, if it needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.” Nelson Mandela.

The world lost a great and powerful man yesterday, Mr. Nelson Mandela. And when I use the word powerful I use it not in the conventional sense but in the spiritual and symbolic sense. Mandela learned that fighting with his fists got him nowhere but fighting with the power of intention and the use of love opened the door to reconciliation and forgiveness. By forgiving himself for all he had done, allowed him to forgive those who had wronged him.

He was a man who symbolized that no one can break our soul unless we allow them. No man can cast stones at us and break our will unless we stand with our chests and heads exposed giving them the opening to break us, maim us. No one can deter us from our goal unless we allow them.

Nelson Mandela also taught us by example the power of forgiveness and the power of being a silent warrior. A man who lived by his words, “Hating clouds the mind. It gets in the way of strategy. Leaders cannot afford to hate." Allowing himself to become a true statesman.

Mandela was not without fault. And neither was he a saint. But a man who managed to transform from a man who believed in violence to achieve his goals to a man who saw there was a greater way to change the world he lived in from the most unlikely place – his prison cell. At the age of 44, Mandela was manacled and placed in a prison for life. He was released at age 71 – some 27 years of his life spent in a single cell. Instead of being bitter toward his oppressors, he moved on with this life saying it was the years he spent in prison that allowed to become a free man. That allowed him to realize the most dangerous shackles we could ever wear are the shackles of our minds.

Mandela learned through imprisonment that no man can imprison another unless he allows himself to be imprisoned. That a physical prison is far easier to deal with and shed than a mental prison. That there are some who walk around as free men who will never know the meaning of freedom because they are imprisoned in their minds and get so caught up in hate and revenge and spite that they never see the beauty of the world around them. Never see the opportunities that present themselves to us each and every day.

Many would have buckled under the oppression imposed upon Mandela but he knew from a young age he was a man sent to do something great – to help liberate his country from apartheid – to help them see that no man regardless of his skin colour is superior to another – that we are all created equal in the eyes of the Creator.

In a moving tribute to Nelson Mandela, President Obama so aptly said, "He no longer belongs to us, he belongs to the ages ... His commitment to transfer power and reconcile with those who jailed him set an example that all humanity should aspire to."

And I second that, I also say he belongs with the angels. With the angels who walk amongst us. Who help us to see no matter what, no matter where, no matter whom, we are one – created in the image of the One Source. Reminding us every once in a while an angel walks this Earth in the physical form becoming a beacon of hope, faith and love. Reminding us from whence we have come and to where we will return. Rest in Peace Sir Nelson Mandela, may your spirit continue to soar amongst us opening our hearts to forgiveness and reconciliation, peace and love, compassion and passion, to understand we are one.

I will always think in reverence of you Sir Nelson for your legacy is that of the peaceful and dignified warrior who looked fear in the face and moved through it and look back at it with appreciation for the gift it gave to you – the gift of self and love. I am so grateful to have shared this human space with you even though we never met, our souls touched in more ways than one.  Namaste.

The gift of life

The gift of life is to live it to its fullest, be who we are from an authentic place and never to forget where we came from and where we are going.

The gift of life is to be kind, sharing, compassionate and to love fully and unconditionally.

The gift of life is waking up every morning and shifting our consciousness even in our darkest hour to one of salvation and one joy.

When we honour our lives and who we are, we recognize we truly have the gift of life within us.

We realize we are here to serve ourselves and each other in the best possible way we can.

We realize we are not here to steal, to cheat, to lie or to stamp on our fellow brothers and sisters.

We understand we are here to support and uphold each other.

And when we recognize this, we understand just how much what one does affects us all. Our energy is from the One Source and permeates throughout our existence making us truly one existence.

There is no need to regret, to forget or to object to our lives. Each circumstance, person and action we experience has been created by the energy that we project.

Think about it. Everything we experience is because of our mindset and thinking.

Even when we feel stagnant or stifled, we have created that energy. That place of darkness and nothingness.

To shift out of that place, we have to step back and access what it is we are doing to stifle our growth. What it is that we are afraid of that is stopping us from becoming so we can be.

We are collectively one nation regardless of where we are and what we are. At the base of it all we all breathe, bleed and function in the same way. It is just our outer appearances that make us different.

When we remember the gift we have every single day of living, only then can we step into our own joy and bring that joy forth to the hearts of others by simply being who we are and being grateful for the gift of life we are given every single day we are living and breathing.

Life truly is the greatest gift we have ever been given so let’s not take it for granted because we are only here for a very short time in the form we are in. So let’s accept our gift and truly live our lives to the fullest, be who we are from an authentic place and never forget where we came from and where we are going.

Living fully, authentically, and compassionately gives us the ability to enjoy and accept our gift - the gift of life.